Robert George Uecker ( YOO-kər; January 26, 1934 – January 16, 2025), affectionately called "Ueck", was an American professional baseball catcher and sportscaster who served as the play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) for 54 seasons. He was also an occasional television and film actor.
Uecker signed with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956, spending several years in the minor leagues with various affiliate clubs before making his major league debut in 1962. As a backup catcher, he played for the Milwaukee Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves from 1962 to 1967. He won a World Series with the Cardinals in 1964.
After retiring, Uecker started a broadcasting career and served as the primary broadcaster for Milwaukee Brewers radio broadcasts from 1971. Uecker became known for his self-deprecating wit and became a regular fixture on late night talk shows in the 1970s and 1980s, facetiously dubbed "Mr. Baseball" by talk show host Johnny Carson. He hosted several sports blooper shows and had an acting career that included his role as George Owens on the television program Mr. Belvedere and as play-by-play announcer Harry Doyle in the film Major League and its two sequels.
In 2003, Uecker received the Ford C. Frick Award, the National Baseball Hall of Fame's annual award for broadcasters.
Though he sometimes joked that he had been born on an oleo run to nearby Illinois (margarine was prohibited in the dairy state of Wisconsin for many years) on January 26, 1934, Uecker was born and raised in Milwaukee. He was the son of Michigan native Mary (née Schultz) and August "Gus" Uecker. August Uecker had emigrated from Switzerland in 1923. Bob also had two younger sisters, Carol Ann and Rosemary. He grew up watching the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association at Borchert Field.
Uecker enlisted in the US Army in 1954, ultimately achieving the rank of corporal. He played baseball while at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Belvoir in Virginia, where he was teammates with future fellow major leaguer Dick Groat.
After his Army service, Uecker signed a professional contract with his hometown Milwaukee Braves in 1956. With the Braves organization, Uecker played in the minor leagues. In his first season, he played in with the Eau Claire Bears in the Northern League and Boise Braves in the Pioneer League. Between both of the clubs, he hit 19 home runs.
Uecker made his major league debut with the club on April 13, 1962. He served as their third-string catcher behind Joe Torre and Del Crandall; Uecker batted .250 in 33 games. He appeared in nine games for the Braves in 1963 before he was demoted to the minor leagues. Before the 1964 season, the Braves traded Uecker to the St. Louis Cardinals for minor leaguers Jimmie Coker and Gary Kolb. Uecker would later quip that, "I was the first hometown player to be called up to the Braves and the first to be sent out by the Braves; I always thought that was nice." He seldom played for the Cardinals, but was a member of the 1964 World Series champions with the Cardinals. After the 1965 season, the Cardinals traded Uecker, Dick Groat, and Bill White to the Philadelphia Phillies for Pat Corrales, Alex Johnson, and Art Mahaffey.
On June 6, 1967, the Phillies traded Uecker back to the Braves, now based in Atlanta, for Gene Oliver. His six-year major league career concluded in 1967.
A below-average hitter, he finished with a career batting average of .200, retroactively at the Mendoza Line, though with four of his seasons ending above .200. He was generally considered to be a sound defensive player and committed very few errors as a catcher, completing his career with a fielding percentage of .981. However, in 1967, despite playing only 59 games, he led the league in passed balls. At least a partial explanation is that he spent a good deal of the season catching Phil Niekro, who threw a knuckleball. Uecker often joked that the best way to catch a knuckleball was to wait until it stopped rolling and pick it up.
After retiring as a player, Uecker became a broadcaster, starting with WSB-TV in Atlanta. In 1971, he began calling play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers' radio broadcasts. Uecker's 54 seasons as a Brewers broadcaster was the second-longest continuous tenure with one team among active Major League Baseball announcers, after Kansas City Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews (1969–present).
In the baseball off-season, Uecker was the radio color commentator for University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball and football games carried by WTMJ (620) and WTMJ-FM (94.5) in the early 1970s.
During his Brewers tenure, Uecker mentored Pat Hughes, Jim Powell, Cory Provus and Joe Block, all of whom became primary radio announcers for other MLB teams. He called the 1982 World Series locally for the Brewers on WTMJ (620) in Milwaukee.
For several years, he also served as a color commentator for network television broadcasts of Major League Baseball, helping call games for ABC in the 1970s and early 1980s and NBC (teaming with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan) in the 1990s. During that time, he was a commentator for several All-Star Games, League Championship Series, and World Series.
At NBC, Uecker was a color commentator for the 1994 and 1996 All-Star Games, 1995 and 1996 American League Championship Series, 1997 National League Championship Series, and the 1995 and 1997 World Series. Uecker left NBC ahead of the 1998 All-Star Game from Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. For the remainder of NBC's MLB contract (1998–2000), only Bob Costas and Joe Morgan called the games. Uecker underwent a back operation in which four discs were replaced.
His most famous catchphrase was "Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!" when a Brewers player hit a home run.
In 2014, health problems led Uecker to reduce his workload, travel less, and call fewer road games.
Until the 2021 season, Uecker had never signed a contract with the Brewers to do the team's play-by-play; instead, he worked under an undisclosed number of handshake agreements with team owners Bud Selig or Mark Attanasio. In 2021, he signed a contract in order to be covered under the Brewers' health insurance plan after cuts to his SAG-AFTRA benefits for acting work.